Extending the Notion of Home Through the Language of Poetry

Abstract

This essay will offer a personalised, critical consideration of how the notion of “homeâ€, while remaining central to my vision as a poet, has evolved from the provincial to the international to the universal through the medium of landscape. It will accordingly ask the following question: how do we find a way to express ourselves through the features of a landscape we might not initially consider to be “homeâ€, in the language of poetry? In answer to that question, the Japanese concept of “shakkei†or “borrowed landscape†will be explored as it relates to both literary history and the more contemporary concern for the expression and cultivation of the individual self. In particular, the technique of “ikedoriâ€, or the “capturing alive†of a landscape will be examined. And finally, this essay will suggest that “shakkei†and poetry are much more than just metaphors for each other. Rather, they are organically and artistically linked mediums through which creative wonder is formalised, personalised and expressed.